Chief, vendor outline ShotSpotter pilot; city will seek state grant for two-square-mile coverage

Santa Fe police and a vendor on Feb. 5 presented a planned gunshot-detection pilot intended to alert officers quickly to outdoor gunfire and to supply data for community outreach, evidence recovery and hospital or school‑based interventions.

Terry Green, Western director for SoundThinking (formerly ShotSpotter), described how rooftop or pole-mounted acoustic sensors detect impulsive sounds above roughly 110 decibels, the vendor’s vetting and alert process, and post‑detection analytics the company markets as “Data for Good.” Green said the vendor’s analysis of computer-aided dispatch and reports from January 2020 through June 2023 identified two roughly two‑square‑mile coverage areas that together accounted for about 43% of citywide calls in which a gun was used.

Pilot design and funding Chief Paul Joy and Director Julie Sanchez described the pilot as a one-year, data-driven test funded by a Department of Health grant the city will present for approval. Director Sanchez told the committee the city has set aside about $380,000 in grant funding to cover the two-square-mile pilot for one year.

Cost and deployment Terry Green said the company’s published price is $75,000 per square mile per year, which the vendor said includes sensors, vetting/alerting services and analytical dashboards. Green said a typical installation timeline averages about one month per square mile but can be faster when the jurisdiction controls street-light poles or other mounting infrastructure. The company’s service-level guarantee is 60 seconds for an initial alert; Green said many alerts arrive in under 60 seconds.

Capabilities and evidence Presenters said the system provides precise coordinates, time stamps, waveform audio and a vendor‑vetted classification of the impulse as gunfire. The vendor showed how officers can receive in‑car or dispatch alerts, and how metadata — including the number of casings recovered and rounds fired — can help investigations and feed into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) when casings are recovered. The vendor and police described community-oriented follow-up: welfare checks, door hangers and analytical dashboards for schools, hospital partners and outreach providers.

Privacy, access and legal issues Vendor representatives said the system is audio-only (no continuous microphone recordings of conversations) and does not provide video unless the city chooses to integrate it with existing cameras. The company said the city controls access; data are hosted securely and user accounts are set by the police department administrator. The presenter said master‑service terms and data-retention policies are specified in a contract and can be tailored in negotiation.

Questions and concerns from the committee Councilors asked how the pilot areas were chosen and whether focusing on hot spots could push crime into other neighborhoods. Chief Joy and the vendor said the selection was data-driven and that many jurisdictions expand coverage over time; the vendor noted some cities later obtained federal or state funds to grow coverage. Councilor Lee Garcia pressed for a citywide plan and asked how much it would cost to expand coverage; vendor representatives said the cost is linear by square mile and encouraged starting in known hot spots and expanding as funding allows.

Committee members also asked whether the alert could be pushed to EMS so medics arrive faster; the vendor said dispatch configurations are up to the city and the system can notify other first responders if the department chooses. Councilors requested a report on best practices and known community concerns: vendor officials acknowledged some jurisdictions have later reduced or paused use of acoustic detection and named Chicago and Suffolk County as examples; the committee asked staff to include accounts of those experiences in materials for any contract decision.

Why it matters Police and public-health staff said faster, accurate detection of gunfire can shorten response times, increase opportunities for life-saving interventions and provide more recoverable forensic evidence. Councillors emphasized they expect more implementation detail, contract terms, third‑party audits of accuracy and community‑engagement plans before any citywide rollout.

Next steps Director Sanchez said the Department of Health grant proposal will be presented to the council in the near term. If approved, the city will begin sensor deployment under a one‑year pilot and return to the committee with data and recommended next steps.